Glycans in Drug Design

Glycans are components of many bio-therapeutic agents, ranging from natural products to molecules based on rational design to recombinant glycoproteins. The glycan components of these agents can be important determinants of their biological activity and therapeutic efficacy. Biochemistry and Glycobiology involves a multidisciplinary study of carbohydrate-binding proteins (lectins), glycolipids and some other plant proteins that are capable of interacting with endogenous or foreign (macro) molecules. The emphasis of the research is on protein-carbohydrate interaction and their involvement in signalling processes in plants or in plant protection. Based on the generated fundamental knowledge novel strategies are being developed to protect crop plants against pests and diseases.

Biotherapeutic protein producers have taken pains to ensure consistency in glycosylation of recombinant therapeutic proteins, mostly due to the potential immunogenic properties of non-self glycans, the impact of glycosylation pharmacokinetics, and glycan in vivo functionality. Changes in glycosylation are often a hallmark of disease states. In the past decade advances in genomics, proteomics and mass spectrometry have enabled the association of specific glycan structures with disease states. In some cases the functional significance of disease-associated changes in glycosylation has been revealed. This highlights changes in glycosylation associated with cancer and chronic inflammation and new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies that are based on the underlying glycobiology.